Sunday, February 03, 2019

My right to my opinion

I have always been puzzled by the phrase "I have a right to my opinion." What does it mean? 

13 comments:

Kevin said...

At its most virtuous, I would call it a way of saying "I cannot / will not be forced to say or do something I disagree with, nor will I stay silent if I do disagree." That's useful for minority political opinions, for example.

The flip side is when it's used as a way of ignoring inconvenient facts in an attempt to give one's contrary opinion greater weight.

Tom Gilson said...

Too often it means, "'Shut up!' he explained."

Starhopper said...

I second what Legion wrote. The justification for saying "I have a right to my own opinion" depends on the motivation for saying such a thing.

bmiller said...

Isn't Victor really asking if you think you have this "right to an opinion" then on what basis do you have that right?

If rights are determined by "society", then if "society" determines you don't have that right, well then you simply don't. Right?

But if you do have a God-given right to an opinion then who can take it away?

bmiller said...

Speaking of opinions.

Why all of the bias against Tulsi Gabbard vs Kamala Harris?

bmiller said...

One other thought about opinions, but only for nerds:

This engineer thinks he's discovered how bots and AI are being used to turn Americans against each other. The methods of propaganda are nothing new, but I think he's looking at the right technical things to prove his point.

Starhopper said...

Victor,

Where do these questions that you pose on your blog come from? Are these things that your students bring up, or are they questions that you yourself ask?

Victor Reppert said...

These are questions I pose to students who reflect certain of their common beliefs, typically defensive relativist perspective.

bmiller said...

I imagine that Victor is grateful that this bunch has not shown up for his class.

Kevin said...

I can't imagine what you mean.

Kevin said...

Though in all seriousness, if he was to use this comments section in one of his classes, I would love to watch a video of the students' reaction.

bmiller said...

Naw, he wouldn't dare do that.

Then they'd feel they'd all deserve an A!

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